Karetsas Limps Off With Ankle Injury in Dortmund's 0-0 at Union Berlin

By Taki Panos

Eight minutes. That is how long Konstantinos Karetsas lasted on Saturday after coming off the bench for Borussia Dortmund at Union Berlin, and for a while they were the liveliest minutes of a flat afternoon. The 18-year-old Greece international came on in the 62nd minute, won the ball off Union captain Rani Khedira near the Union box, then went down holding his right ankle, as the club itself reported. The game finished 0-0, per the Bundesliga, and Dortmund's biggest worry limped off supported by staff.

For readers new to his story, Karetsas came through the academy at KRC Genk in Belgium and played for Belgian youth teams before choosing to represent his parents' country, making his Greece debut in March 2025, according to the Associated Press via Al Jazeera. That choice will sound familiar to plenty of diaspora families, and our guide on who qualifies for Greek citizenship explains how the paperwork side works. By August he had three goals in ten games for Greece, per Dortmund.

That same August, Dortmund made him one of the summer's big signings. He joined from Genk on a five-year contract running to June 30, 2031, the German club announced, in what Genk called the biggest transfer in its history. The fee was reported at around 30 million euros, Goal wrote. Last season he set up 11 goals in the Belgian league and helped Genk reach the Europa League round of 16, Dortmund noted. Big money, big expectations, and he is still only 18.

Saturday's match itself will not be remembered for its football. Dortmund's Ethan Nwaneri was briefly shown a red card in the first minute before the referee corrected it to yellow, and one of the few real thrills came from Union's Kastriot Imeri, whose free kick from near the touchline forced Gregor Kobel into a fine low save late in the half, the Bundesliga's match report said. Dortmund are still unbeaten after six league games, but this was the second straight league match in which they dropped points, per the same report.

Into that grind stepped Karetsas, replacing Maximilian Beier, as dpa and Goal reported. He gave the visitors a noticeable spark, completing four of his six passes and winning four of his five duels in the few minutes he had, according to the club. In the 67th minute he dispossessed Khedira just outside the Union penalty area, Dortmund said, the sort of hungry, cheeky moment that made people in Genk fall for him. Then it all went wrong.

As he battled to keep the ball from Khedira, his foot seemed to catch in the grass and his ankle turned, Dortmund reported. Defender Waldemar Anton described it the same way to Sky: "It looks like his foot got caught in the turf and his leg buckled a little," Goal quoted him as saying. Captain Nico Schlotterbeck signaled to the bench that Karetsas could not go on, and 17-year-old Mathis Albert replaced him in the 70th minute, Goal reported, for only the second Bundesliga appearance of his career, per Dortmund.

Nobody at the club was ready to put a timeline on it. "He twisted his ankle," managing director for sport Lars Ricken said. "Something's not quite right with it. We'll have to do further testing to determine how serious the injury is," the club quoted him. Sporting director Ole Book said the player was not feeling good right now, dpa and Gazzetta reported. Book saw the moment a little differently, saying an opponent stepped on Karetsas's foot when it could have been avoided, Parapolitika and Gazzetta wrote.

There was sympathy from the other bench too. Khedira apologized to Karetsas on the pitch and later wished him a quick recovery, Parapolitika reported, telling Sky, "I hope he won't be out for too long," per Goal. Coach Niko Kovac sounded like a man feeling for his player. "We now have to see whether it's something more serious or not. I hope it isn't, of course," he said, adding that he felt sorry for a young man who "certainly hasn't had much luck lately," Goal reported.

Kovac was talking about more than an ankle. On September 8, in his Champions League debut against Villarreal, Karetsas slumped to the turf about 25 minutes in with what Dortmund called circulatory problems and was taken to hospital, the Associated Press reported. Three days of tests found "no abnormalities whatsoever," Ricken said at the time, according to the Bundesliga, but he missed the following league game against Paderborn. Kovac said on Saturday that the episode is probably still at the back of the player's mind, dpa and Gazzetta reported.

For Greek fans, the frustrating part is that this has happened before at the same club. Dortmund also signed Giannis Konstantelias from PAOK this summer, and he scored on his Bundesliga debut against Hamburg on August 29 before tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the same game, Dortmund confirmed and the Associated Press reported. That has been a strange contrast with a strong autumn for Greeks elsewhere, from Pavlidis scoring for Benfica to Tsimikas setting up two goals for Liverpool.

My take: there is no point guessing about scans that have not come back yet, and Dortmund have been careful not to. What I will say is that the eight minutes he did get were encouraging. He chased, he tackled, he won the ball off a seasoned captain, and that is a teenager playing with heart, not fear. Kovac is right not to demand too much. If this turns out to be a short layoff, the best thing for Karetsas is simply a run of normal, boring, healthy weeks.

Next up for Dortmund is Tuesday's Champions League trip to Sabah in Azerbaijan, per ESPN. Karetsas will almost certainly miss it and could be out for several weeks, with the final diagnosis still to come, dpa reported. Keep an eye on our Greek Sports section for that and for the rest of the weekend's Greek stories. Get well soon, Kos. Greece needs you fit.

Sources: Borussia Dortmund, Bundesliga, Goal, dpa, Gazzetta, Parapolitika, Pelop, Associated Press via Al Jazeera, KRC Genk, ESPN.

Image: Flag of Greece, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).